In a Reuters report about the controversy over new airport screening procedures -- procedures which include naked body scans and intimately intrusive searches -- came this heartbreaking reaction from a father."We spend my child's whole life telling him that only mom, dad and a doctor can touch you in your private area, and now we have to add TSA agent and that's just wrong," said the father whose 8-year old boy had just been subjected to a physical search at the airport.
"At some point the terrorists have won."
The Obama administration is digging in its heels on this matter but the uproar is just beginning.
As I've pointed out in posts throughout the week, Americans are embarrassed, frustrated and angry about the new (and unconstitutional) naked body scans and groping hand searches being conducted by Transportation Security Administration employees. Pilots and flight attendants are planning organized protests. Civil liberties groups are preparing lawsuits. Local TV stations all over the country are giving personal examples of mistreatment at the airport.
It's no wonder then that many, many Americans are just deciding not to fly.
"We have received hundreds of e-mails and phone calls from travelers vowing to stop flying," said Geoff Freeman, an executive vice president of the U.S. Travel Association, which set up the meeting with the Obama administration officials.
"You can't talk on the one hand about creating jobs in this country and getting this economy back on track and on the other hand discourage millions of Americans from flying, which is the gateway to commerce," he said.
